**GOING-GOING-GONE**

We're taking time off
from running our business
in order to share our skills
and discover worlds and cultures
little known to us.
Share our adventures as we discover
fascinating, new insights and experiences.

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With the inauspicious end to 2016.... a year that we would rather delete from our calendar..... and the dawn of 2017, we are in the last couple of weeks of 'shutting up shop' and saying 'au-revoir' to our experiment with the American Dream. Nostalgically, we wonder if we will ever be back for good and if so, how different the country we know as home, will appear when we return. For both of us, the USA is where we have spent most of our adult lives and California has truly captured our hearts. We have always been so happy to say we belong to LaLaLand. But for now, it is back on the road again, to our nomadic existence and the boundless excitement of the world beyond.
For those of you who know us, our decision to exit 'stage-right' from what we now call 'Trumpistan' will not come as a surprise. We acknowledge that the man is just a symptom of the systemic malaise that not just America but much of the developed world is experiencing; nonetheless, …

As today is Earth Day (April 22), we have planted two ‘neem
trees’ and one ‘cherry tree’ in the CI office grounds. The ‘trees’ are probably just a foot high
now, but given that the rains will be
with us soon, chances are that they will be strong saplings before we depart
South American shores. The ‘cherry’
trees here are not quite the conventional cherry with which most of us are
familiar. The small fruit – more orange
than deep red – is used to make a fresh fruit drink and without added sugar has
a tart flavor. Like many fruit trees, it
has two seasons and is hugely popular with kids, who snack on the fruit like
its candy. I always believed the neem
was indigenous to India, but now I’m not that sure. Mangoes, cashews, tamarind, coconut,
carambola, jamun, papaya, pineapple, custard apple, golden apple (aamra),
guava, and so much more are ubiquitous all over Guyana. It’s a challenge to find out what was
introduced and what originated here. It’s been raining quite a bit her…

Today is a day of celebration for us; exactly a year ago we landed in Georgetown. We can still remember the excitement in the pits of our stomachs when we saw the advertisement, inviting interested applicants to respond to an invitation to work with local Amerindian communities in the south of Guyana.... one of the three Guianas - the other two being French Guyana (still a part of France, so no visa necessary for Europeans, and Suriname, which the Dutch (like the British did to Guyana) happily returned to their rightful owners. So, here we are and apart from the fact that one is not tripping over wildlife and primary forest at every step, we have certainly not been disappointed. John Gimlette's book 'Wild Coast' brings this part of the world to vivid and at times, shocking, life. Since our arrival in March last year, we have visited Suriname (Paramaribo), where one can live the life of the Dutch knowing that summer really does last longer than just one day in the ye…

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿ Sitting and teaching in the middle of the Amazonian Forest near
the village of Rewa (current population 284) where the Rewa and Rupununi rivers
meet, Dicky, one of the part time managers of the local eco- lodge, stops our
conversation abruptly and puts a finger to his lips. Silence…… We halt talking
about the finer details of international sales and marketing and how to prepare
for higher gas prices in 2015.
“ I smell the rains”, he says. “ It’s gonna be wet tonight”. Overhead, not a cloud
in the sky, the sun is relentlessly beating down on us. We don’t see, hear or
smell a thing. We don’t doubt him
though, we can’t, we have to believe him. We have learnt very quickly here that
the people who inhabit the rainforests and have lived here for generations,
know, smell and see things we can’t even begin to think of. As a result, they
are excellent guides; they have this uncanny ability to see or detect wildlife
before we even hear it, know where the fish are (do they love fishing) an…

It’s hard to get going again after the passing of our colleague and friend. Since we operated as a team, we have to readjust and re-arrange. We have to move on and a replacement has to be found for the agricultural position. We just returned from our break in Europe and we find ourselves in what is called Heritage Month. The several Amerindian communities in Guyana celebrate their culture, indigenous customs and history during a month long celebration and, as we find out pretty quickly, this is not the time to start talking about the finer details of promotion, tourism trade fairs or budget issues.﻿
So, together with our colleagues and friends, we immerse ourselves in the celebrations. Excellent opportunity to build relationships. One of the many nice things of these celebrations is that it’s not a commercial event (yet), more a gathering of like minded souls having a good time. Refreshing and charming in our eyes. Small-town affairs really.﻿
We witness the local pepper pot coo…

These have been eventful months. It’s been a while since we
reported from the Amazonian Forest and Rupununi Savannahs; this is not because
of a lack of stories.
More the other way around; so many things to report and so many things
happening that’s it hard to know where to start.
In a nutshell, we got stuck again in the mud after a rainstorm
during the rainy season, we lost a good friend and great colleague, we moved
house, we went to Europe, via Suriname for a break to visit family and friends
in Holland and France, where we both gained 10 pounds (now gone again). In
France, we were impressed by the solemn-ness of the first World War cemeteries
in Albertville……. As usual the food in France was great (although Christine
got a bad food poisoning after some salmon) and "la service", well, what can we
say, very French. Upon our return, early September, we were thrown right in the
Amerindian heritage celebrations (a month long festival here in the Rupununi, celebrating
local …